This invention relates to a robot control system having: a sensor interface for receiving signals from sensors, a position controller with interpolation for controlling the motion of the robot along a predetermined path, and a separate data preprocessing unit between the sensor interface and the position controller. Such robot control systems are known in principle from the journal "Siemens-Energietechnik", 1981, no. 8/9, pages 285 to 289.
Until the present time a fixed relationship has existed in general between a sensor signal input and action on the robot system. The action on the system, i.e., the intervention into the control process, may be a path correction with a fixed direction of correction depending on the input, with two binary sensor signals and a three-way switch, or a velocity change in discrete steps or a stopping of the entire motion. An arbitrary combining of data from different interfaces, signal preprocessing and system reaction is generally not available.
The sensor data preprocessing unit should be designed so that the overall system is readily adaptable to different sensors and to different technical tasks, i.e., it should be possible to connect to the robot controller different sensors via different types of data interfaces (binary, analog, serial or parallel) without difficulty and to design the data preprocessing unit such that any selected technological task, such as deburring, welded-seam following, multilayer welded seam following and installation, can be executed.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a sensor data prepossessing arrangement which facilitates accommodation of the robot controller to the most varied sensors and the most different technological objectives.